Grant funds Ephraim youth Christmas choir

EPHRAIM — A grant provided by the Central Utah Arts Center (CUAC), the Utah Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts funded a youth Christmas choir in Ephraim this year, providing local children with a forum to express themselves musically.

“I have parents that come to me and say, ‘Thank you so much,'” said Rebecca McGarry, director of the youth choir who also directs the Encore Women’s Choir at Snow College. “I love to teach, and I enjoy bringing music to children.”

The youth choir, CUAC Sings, which consisted of children ages 8 to 14, performed at three venues during the Christmas season, including the Golden Skyline Assisted Living Center in Ephraim, Mayfield Manor and the auditorium at the Manti City Building. The program included performances by the choir as a whole and performances by smaller groups as well as individuals soloists.

Each child was given the opportunity to perform a special number if they wanted to, and they had the option of providing a smaller solo as part of a choir number or of having their own number on the program.

“Every child played an instrument also,” McGarry said, whether the instrument was simple, such as a hand drum or other percussion instrument, or more complicated, such as the flute or violin.

McGarry said singing is one of the few ways that both hemispheres of the brain are connected. She said a teacher of one of the child performers approached her and explained that the child, who had struggled at the beginning of the school year, had notably improved in reading comprehension just in the short time that the choir had been rehearsing.

“We worked with each child so that they felt confident about what they did,” McGarry said.

The program included a swing dance with four couples, which was added at the request of the children.

As a result of budget cuts at public elementary schools in recent years, arts programs, both visual and performing arts, have been significantly hampered, if not eliminated, throughout the country. Many parents must pay for lessons to give their children an awareness of and instruction in the arts.

“If we take away the arts, we become a savage people,” McGarry said.

The CUAC grant allowed the children to participate at no expense to their parents. The grant only provided enough funding to do a Christmas performance, which included 13 rehearsals beforehand, but McGarry hopes that future grants will eventually provide for a yearlong program.

“This is the first year that CUAC has sponsored such a group, and it was absolutely thrilled to support these young performers,” said Jared Latimer, director of CUAC, who pursued the grant. “We are already looking forward to next year.”

The grant helped pay for the choir accompanist, Rachel Mitsvotai, who also performed a piano solo on the program.

McGarry has a master’s degree in vocal performance and double bachelor’s degrees in performance and musical education. She has taught private voice lessons for 30 years.